Exhibition:

We are temporarily closed. Friday 7 February at 20:00 we will open 3 new exhibitions. From 8 February, we will again be open every weekend from 11:00 to 18:00.

Next event:

24.02.2025 Eugene Kotlyarenko — The Code (2024)

Lange Steenstraat 14

9000 Gent

Weekends: 11:00–18:00

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Exhibition:

We are temporarily closed. Friday 7 February at 20:00 we will open 3 new exhibitions. From 8 February, we will again be open every weekend from 11:00 to 18:00.

Next event:

24.02.2025 Eugene Kotlyarenko — The Code (2024)

Lange Steenstraat 14

9000 Gent

Weekends: 11:00–18:00

Facebook Instagram

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More information Accept

Agenda: Soon ?

→ Art Cinema OFFoff
→ Film
→ 20:00

Monday 24.02.25

Art Cinema OFFoff:

Eugene Kotlyarenko — The Code (2024)

→ Art Cinema OFFoff
→ Film
→ 20:00

→ Democrazy
→ Talk
→ 19:30

Wednesday 26.02.25

Democrazy:

KU Leuven Talk: The Show Must Go On

→ Democrazy
→ Talk
→ 19:30

→ Talk
→ 19:30

Friday 28.02.25

Friday Evenings:

Pieter Vermeulen: Criticism and Criticality in Times of Crisis

→ Talk
→ 19:30

→ Art Cinema OFFoff
→ Film
→ 20:00

Monday 03.03.25

Art Cinema OFFoff:

‘What a Machine!’

→ Art Cinema OFFoff
→ Film
→ 20:00

→ 19:30

Friday 07.03.25

Friday Evenings:

PhD in 1 night: The Political Potential of Utopia

→ Live gathering
→ 19:30

Friday 14.03.25

Friday Evenings:

Dani Bershan: Holes & Gut Matters

→ Live gathering
→ 19:30

→ Documentary
→ 20:00

Wednesday 19.03.25

Openbare Werken 2025:

Mark Požlep: Everything Under

→ Documentary
→ 20:00

→ 19:30

Friday 21.03.25

Friday Evenings:

Elioa Steffen (IPOP): Queer Artistic Development as Resistance

→ Talk
→ 19:30

Friday 28.03.25

Friday Evenings:

KAOS talk: with Dr. Museum Guislain & vzw KAOS

→ Talk
→ 19:30

→ 19:30

Friday 04.04.25

Friday Evenings:

Midnight Melktapes

→ Talk, Workshop
→ 19:30

Friday 11.04.25

Friday Evenings:

Fiona Hallinan & Ellen Rowley: Out of Love, Out of Use and Out of Time

→ Talk, Workshop
→ 19:30

→ Talk, performance
→ 20:00

Friday 18.04.25

Friday Evenings:

Isabelle Andriessen — Vermin Rites

→ Talk, performance
→ 20:00

→ Talk
→ 19:30

Friday 25.04.25

Friday Evenings:

Merel Stoker: Als De Stenen Konden Praten

→ Talk
→ 19:30

→ 019
→ Book fair
→ 11:00

03 — 04.05.25

019:

Ghent Art Book Fair

→ 019
→ Book fair
→ 11:00

Full Archive

Agenda: Archive

→ 20:00

07 — 09.02.25

Opening weekend: 3 new exhibitions + performances

→ Guided tour
→ 18:45

Friday 07.02.25

For Allies:

Fiona Hallinan: preview & screening ‘Making Dust’

→ Guided tour
→ 18:45

Sluiten

→ Talk
→ 19:30

Friday 28.02.25

Pieter Vermeulen: Criticism and Criticality in Times of Crisis

During Friday Evenings, we present a programme around interesting themes, artists, a collective or organisation for nine weeks. This spring, we will kick off with a book presentation. Pieter Vermeulen presents The Sleep Of Reason: on the importance of criticism as an artistic strategy and the value of art criticism in times of crisis.

→ Talk
→ 19:30

On the occasion of his new book The Sleep of Reason. Critical Perspectives in Contemporary Art (MER Books/Owl Press, 2024), Pieter Vermeulen will discuss the importance of criticality as an artistic strategy and the value of art criticism in times of economic precarity, political polarization, and climate catastrophe, in a conversation with curator Sevie Tsampalla.

How can we make sense of artistic practices within a broader cultural context, not only as a reflection of the zeitgeist, but also as a response to it? Starting from numerous artistic examples, we will consider the importance of new narratives and metaphors, thinking through and with images, and the multifaceted power of the imagination. There will be ample time for questions and answers after the presentation.

Pieter Vermeulen — The Sleep of Reason

Pieter Vermeulen’sbook The Sleep of Reason. Critical Perspectives on Contemporary Art offers an original and thought-provoking exploration of a diverse range of contemporary artistic practices, set within a broader cultural context. It argues that art can teach us about the human condition and our way of coinhabiting the planet, in a unique interplay between reason and imagination, creation and contemplation, poetry and inquiry. While acknowledging that art may not have the power to save the world, the author contends that it offers profound insights into our existence and that of others, and serves as a poignant reminder of the persistent challenges that linger like indomitable monsters.

Through a combination of essays, criticism, and conversations, Pieter Vermeulen deftly examines the meaning of art in times of crisis, engaging in thoughtful dialogue with a variety of makers and thinkers, with a particular focus on Belgium’s vibrant artistic scene. Key themes include the artistic fascination with time capsules, art in outer space, the aesthetics of administration, collective experiments in self-organization, artistic quests for truth, the politics of listening, gentrification, hippie modernism, institutional critique, and the enduring power of the imagination.

Pieter Vermeulen — The Sleep of Reason, edition: Borgerhoff & Lamberigts, Sep 2024, 192 pages, Dutch.

More Info

Pieter Vermeulen

Pieter Vermeulen is kunstcriticus, curator en docent in België. Hij studeerde filosofie en cultuurwetenschappen aan de universiteiten van Antwerpen, Leuven en Praag. Momenteel is hij verbonden aan PXL-MAD (Media, Arts & Design faculteit) in Hasselt en St Lucas School of Arts in Antwerpen, waar hij cursussen geeft in hedendaagse kunst & theorie, artistiek onderzoek en zelforganisatie. Als redacteur en schrijver heeft Vermeulen bijgedragen aan talrijke kunstpublicaties en zijn teksten zijn op grote schaal gepubliceerd. Vermeulen is een ICI Curatorial Intensive alumnus (New York) en lid van AICA International.

Sevie Tsampalla

Sevie Tsampalla werkt als curator op het kruispunt van kunst, activisme en publieke ruimte. Ze studeerde kunstgeschiedenis en culturele studies en tijdens haar doctoraat in exhibition studies onderzocht ze hoe biënnales te herdenken door commoning als praktijk voor collectief beheer. Ze maakt momenteel deel uit van het artistieke team dat het programma van LOV2030 voorbereid, de kandidatuur van Leuven & Beyond om in 2030 Culturele Hoofdstad van Europa te worden. Eerder was ze co-curator van Spaces of Possibility-Bruges Triennial 2024 en werkte ze voor Liverpool Biennial 2016 en S.M.A.K. Met een sterke interesse in samenwerkingen en gesitueerde praktijken cureerde ze tentoonstellingen voor kunstcentra, collectieven en artist-led spaces.

Friday Evenings

During Friday Evenings, we present a programme around one or more artists, a collective or organisation for 9 – 10 weeks. We offer local partners a platform. And we highlight artists with whom Kunsthal Gent is currently collaborating. Every Friday night is different: from performance, artist talk and book presentation to conversation, dinner or film screening.